The Once and Future Heroes
by thesituation016
Summary: It was supposed to be a vacation, a reward for finishing school and a break from saving people from the things that went bump in the night, but it became much more than that when Kayla and Olivia get sucked into a battle like no other. Bruce/oc Steve/oc. Light Romance. Sort of a build up. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Chapter 1

The Once and Future Heroes

-0-

**I didn't do any major renovations, but there were a few things that I wanted to clean up. :D**

-0-

A girl with long dark red hair in a braid and caramel eyes named Kayla stirred her hot chocolate before taking a sip. Across from her sat her friend Olivia who had long pale blonde hair in a low bun with two decretive chop sticks with tassels hanging from it and burgundy eyes who had just taken a treat from a plate of hot pastries that sat in front of them.

They were in Stuttgart capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany on vacation before they would go job hunting after just finishing up college. They had gone to the opera and just taken in the scenery, but they were far from just normal girls.

Kayla a.k.a. Excalibur and Olivia a.k.a. Avalon were not normal girls. Kayla was the youngest descendant of King Arthur and holder of the sword Excalibur, Olivia was the youngest descendant of Merlin and holder of the staff of Avalon.

Excalibur's blade was made of the purest silver metal while the handle was made of pure gold endowed with magic to cut through anything and enhance its holder's abilities. Dark brown leather was wrapped around the hilt and a circle ornament was on the bottom of the hilt with the symbol of a dragon etched into it that had ruby eyes.

Olivia's staff was gold and had a mystic fire topaz crystal on the top surrounded by four thin plates that formed a spear head over the crystal. Etched around the handle of the staff was a dragon. The base of the staff was rounded off with a large opal pearl.

"I think this hot chocolate right here is the thing I will miss most about Stuttgart." Kayla said taking another sip of her drink.

"You would." Olivia said. "I don't know how you can take in so many calories and not gain a pound."

"The same way we both do, exercise like crazy." Kayla said making air quotes when she said exercise. She didn't want to alert anyone to who they really were.

"It's been really quiet lately." Olivia remarked, nibbling on a pastry.

"Don't jinx it." Kayla snapped. "We haven't had this much of a free run in a long time."

Suddenly hordes of people came running out of the museum from across the street yelling at the top of their lugs. Kayla looked at Olivia with a fake glare.

"Do you see what you did?" Kayla said and Olivia smiled sheepishly. They got up and walked over to some of the people that had run out.

"Hey what's going on?" Kayla asked as she grabbed one of the men running by.

"That man just killed the curator of the museum." He said pointing to the last man to come out of the museum before running away again.

He walked at a leisurely pace and a gold shimmer surrounded him transforming his clothes to a strange sort of armor complete with a helmet that had long horns coming from it. He raised a staff her held in his hand and shot a police car that was coming toward him causing it to crash as copies of him surrounded the crowd caroling them.

"Kneel before me." He commanded but no one moved whether out of fear or rebellion was anyone's guess.

"Well that can't be good." Olivia said as she cracked her knuckles. The girls made their way to the center of the crowd and stopped next to an elderly man.

"I said…" He brought his staff down hard and a flash of blue light emerged from the top. "KNEEL."

Kayla and Olivia kneeled as well waiting for the opportune moment to attack without getting people injured if possible.

"Is not this simpler; is this not your natural state? It is the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power for identity. You were made to be ruled." He said with a sick smile. "In the end you will always kneel."

Kayla was about to stand, but an elderly man beat her to it.

"Not to men like you." He said. Kayla and Olivia stood up next to the man as they discreetly formed their weapons behind their backs.

"There are no men like me." The man replied eyeing them with a smirk as he switched his staff from one hand to the other.

"There are always men like you." The elderly man said evenly, head held high in defiance. Kayla put a free hand on his shoulder, her sword still hidden behind her back.

"We've overcome them before, the same will happen to you." Kayla said and Olivia nodded in agreement.

"Look to them people, let them be an example." The man charged his weapon and the girls got ready to block, but to their shock a man in a red white and blue outfit fell in front of them and blocked the charge with his shield. It bounced off of the shield and hit the man to the ground.

"That can't be, isn't he supposed to be dead?" Kayla asked quietly, instantly recognizing the red, white, and blue clad figure.

"Maybe it's his replacement or something." Olivia guessed with a shrug.

"You know the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else we ended up disagreeing." Captain America as they all knew him to be said.

"The soldier, a man out of time." The other man said as he stood up.

"I'm not the one out of time." Captain America replied as she ship came down out of the sky and hovered above them.

"Ok maybe he's not a replacement." Olivia said. "He must have a very interesting story."

"Something tells me a fight is about to break out. Keep the people safe and get them out of here, let me deal with antelope boy." Kayla ordered as Olivia nodded twirling her staff.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down." A voice from the ship ordered.

"They just have all sorts of neat toys." Kayla said. Loki fired in retaliation, but Olivia jumped up and used her spear to block it, much to the surprise of all those around.

"That wasn't very nice." Olivia commented landing lightly in a crouched position before standing back up holding her staff aloft as she wagged her finger at Loki like she was scolding a child. Loki looked shocked for a moment and made to fire again, but a shield to his face stopped him.

"Avalon, get these people out of here." Kayla ordered again and Olivia took off to do her job. Captain America charged Loki and started to fight, but was thrown back by a hit from Loki's staff. Kayla rushed in with her sword and engaged Loki in battle as Olivia got the people out of the area. The air was filled with the sound of metal on metal as the fight continued.

"Who are you?" Loki demanded as they came to a standstill weapons locked.

"I'm Excalibur." Kayla said as she thrust the hilt of her sword into his stomach causing him to stumble back. He let out a growl of frustration and Kayla was then thrown back by a blast from Loki's weapon sending her into a nearby light pole causing it to dent.

Loki advanced on her while she was disoriented when Captain America threw his shield again, but Loki knocked it away while Kayla stood shakily to her feet and shook her head to clear the cobwebs. Captain ran forward and engaged him in hand to hand combat. Loki gained the upper hand with a side swipe sending Captain to the ground. Loki walked over to him and placed the end of his staff against Captains head.

"Kneel." Loki hissed pushing down on the staff. Kayla quickly rushed at Loki Excalibur raised.

"I don't think so." Kayla said as she knocked Loki staff away with her sword and Captain performed a round house kick knocking Loki back.

"Not today." Captain said.

Kayla and the Captain fought side by side with Loki. The two of them fought well together, blocking blows meant for the other. It was like an intricate dance, but Loki was gaining the upper hand. Suddenly rock music, Shoot to Kill by ACDC, was blasted from the speakers of the plane causing them to pause in confusion for a moment.

"What the heck?" Kayla said, and then they spotted it, Ironman speeding towards them, then using his stabilizers as he landed he shot Loki back into some nearby stairs. Ironman landed hard on the ground causing it to crack under his weight, then stood up as all sorts of weapons popped up all over his armor.

"Make a move a reindeer games." Ironman said as he pointed everything at Loki. Kayla and the captain came up and stood next to him looking down at Loki who slowly lifted his arms in surrender as his armor disappeared. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark." Captain said.

"Captain." Stark replied.

"Oh, cool, its Ironman." Olivia said as she ran up to them staff still in hand.

"Yes it's very cool." Stark replied as the plane landed allowing Natasha to come over.

"Who are you two?" Natasha snapped.

"Excalibur and Avalon." Kayla said pointing to each of them in turn.

"Let's get him on board and Director Fury wants to talk to you two." Natasha said. Stark and Captain grabbed Loki and took him to the ship.

"Who?" Kayla asked.

"He runs S.H.I.E.L.D. an agency that protects the earth." Natasha said.

"Well thanks, but no thanks." Olivia said.

"I'm sorry, but it wasn't a request." Natasha said as she placed her hand on her gun holster. Kayla looked from Natasha over to where Loki was being loaded into the plane. Something real big was going down.

"You think that's going…" Olivia started to say as he staff glowed bright, but Kayla cut her off.

"We'll come." Kayla said.

"What?!" Olivia asked.

"Something big is going down and we might be needed." Kayla said as a sheath for her sword formed on her back and she placed Excalibur in it. Olivia let out a frustrated sigh and followed Kayla to the jet as Kayla pulled out her phone.

"Who are you calling?" Natasha asked suspiciously.

"Crystal's Kennel, they're watching Robin, my pet wolf dog. I'm calling to tell them that we had a family emergency and see if they can watch him a little longer while we're gone." Natasha nodded as Kayla went on her way.

"Well there goes our vacation." Olivia said as she crossed her arms with a glare at Loki.

"You'll be compensated for all expenses." Natasha said as she led them to the plane.

"Whatever." Olivia said as she walked onto the jet a plopped down next to Loki. "So what's your malfunction?" Loki gave her a confused look. Olivia sighed heavily then clarified. "Why are you attacking earth?"

"I will tell you nothing." He said as they took off into the air.

"Ow, my feelings." Olivia said in a bored monotone voice as she rolled her eyes.

"Making a new friend I see." Kayla said as walked by them pausing for a moment. Loki was becoming bewildered as to why these two girls didn't seem troubled by whom he was at all.

"Yep, we're planning our first sleepover right now." Olivia replied with fake giddiness while clapping her hands together like a child before slumping back in her bored slouch. Kayla laughed and walked up to the front of the ship.

"You do know that I'm the bad guy right?" Loki said with an arched eyebrow.

"So? You're not doing a lot evil right now." Olivia said with a lazy shrug. "Anyways lots of people were evil before they became good."

"Oh and that's what you want to do with me? Save me?" He laughed humorlessly.

"What makes you think you can't be?" Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because I don't want to be." He replied with an evil smirk.

"Well we don't always get what we want do we?" Olivia said as she leaned back and closed her eyes while Loki starred at her out of the corner of his eye.


	2. Chapter 2

"Did he say anything?" Fury asked over the com.

"Not a word." Natasha replied.

"Just get him here, were running out of time." Fury said.

"Yes sir." Natasha said.

"What about those girls?" Fury asked.

"There her with us." Natasha confirmed.

"Good." Fury said the hung up.

"I don't like it." Steve said.

"What, Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Tony asked.

"I don't remember it being that easy." Steve replied. "This guy packs a wallop."

"I'll say." Kayla mumbled as she rubbed her lower back where she had hit the pole. She stretched and popped it back into place with a relived smile.

"Still you are pretty spry for an older fellow." Stark said. "What's your thing palates?"

"What?" Steve asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's like calisthenics." Kayla told him.

"You might have missed a couple of things, you know, doing time as a capsicle." Tony said, but Steve didn't think that it was so funny by the look on his face.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Steve said.

"Yeah, there are a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Stark replied then noticed Loki and Olivia talking. Well more like Olivia talking and Loki tuning her out.

"Your friend does know that he's the bad guy, right?" Stark asked Kayla.

"Yeah, she knows, that's why she's sitting next to him. She's using her staff to keep his magic bound so he can't make an escape." Kayla said as she re did her braid that had come loose in the fight.

"So she's a witch." Stark said eyeing the glowing staff.

"A sorceress, Olivia is the last descendant of Merlin." Kayla said with a smile. They were bound to find out eventually.

"You mean Merlin, Arthur's wizard?" Steve asked in surprise.

"Yep that's the one." Kayla said with a nod.

"Then that means if she is who you say she is and your name is Excalibur, then you must be the last descendant of King Arthur." Stark said in an interested voice.

"Yeah, that's me." Kayla said with a smile.

"So Arthur really lived?" Steve asked in astonishment.

"Yes, but we have let him fall into legend so the sword would be safe for the most part." Kayla said. "Not that it's done much good. There are still some people that know or find out and come for the sword, but we've been keeping them in line."

"Can I see your sword?" Tony asked suddenly as a storm started up outside.

"Can I try out your suit?" Kayla asked back as a particularly loud blast of lightning hit.

"Where's this coming from?" Natasha asked while the plane shuddered as a flash of lightning struck nearby.

"What's the matter? Scarred of a little lightning?" Steve asked Loki who was fidgeting nervously.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." He replied looking around the cabin.

"What? Thunder? That's just the sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning. It produces a rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within a bolt of lightning. In turn, this expansion of air creates a sonic shock wave, similar to a sonic boom, which produces the sound of thunder." Olivia said then noticed the looks she was getting. "What?"

"Nothing Einstein." Kayla said with a role of her eyes and a chuckle. Suddenly a particularly loud thump was heard on the roof of the plane. "What was that?"

No one replied, but Steve put his cowl back on and Stark his helmet. Stark walked over to the back of the plane and opened the hatch.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked. Suddenly a muscular man dropped onto the open door, hit Stark back with his hammer and grabbed Loki. Olivia tried to fend him off, but was tossed aside and then twirling his hammer the man took off into the air.

"What the heck was that?" Olivia exclaimed standing up with help of her staff.

"And now there's that guy." Stark mumbled as he too stood up.

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha asked.

"Think that guy is a friendly?" Steve asked.

"Doesn't matter, if he frees Loki or kills him the tesseract is lost." Stark said as he prepared to jump.

"Stark we need a plan of attack." Steve said.

"I have a plan, attack." Stark replied then took off after the Loki and his friend.

"Is he always this impulsive?" Kayla asked sarcastically.

"If his file is anything to go by then yes he is." Steve said as he rolled his eyes and grabbed a parachute, catching on Kayla did the same.

"Avalon, stay here and guard the plane just in case there are more of them." Kayla said and Olivia nodded.

"I'd sit this one out Cap, Excalibur." Natasha said.

"I don't see how I can." Steve replied.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods." Natasha warned.

"There's only one god ma'am. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that." Steve replied.

"Amen." Kayla agreed as they both jumped out of the back of the plane.

-0-

"Sounds like they're really going at it." Kayla said as they quickly made their way through the woods towards the sound of fighting. Soon they came upon the demi-god and ironman ducking it out. Rogers glanced around then jumped on top of a fallen tree.

"Hey." Rogers yelled as he threw his shield hitting both of the men in the chest. "That's enough."

He jumped down from the tree in front of the men and Kayla walked over to them sword in hand.

"Now I don't know what you plan on doing here." Steve said.

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes." Thor said.

"Then prove it. Put that hammer down." Steve said.

"Uh yeah no, bad call. He loves his…" Stark never got a chance to finish. Thor bashed him back into a tree with his hammer then stalked angrily toward Stave and Kayla.

"You need to work on you wording." Kayla said to Steve as she charged forward.

The man raised his hammer as Kayla raised her sword and they connected. The force of the two legendary weapons coming together sent Kayla flying backwards only to be caught by Steve. Thor barely took a step back then was stalking toward the again still angry.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" He snapped then leaped up into the air Hammer raised. Steve pulled Kayla down into a crouching position behind his shield. Thor brought his hammer down hard on the shield causing a bell like toll and a blast of energy that threw Thor back also leveling the surrounding area.

All around was silence as everyone emerged slowly from the debris and surveyed the destruction. The smoking remains of trees and earth surrounded them.

"Are we done here?" Steve asked as he helped Kayla up. The men looked around sheepishly before standing down. Kayla looked up to the cliff expecting Loki to be gone, but he wasn't. He sat on the edge of the cliff smirking down at them.

"Why didn't he make a run for it?" Kayla asked.

"I don't know, but we'll find out when we get him to the base." Steve said. A nervous feeling enveloped Kayla as she stared up at Loki's smirking face.


	3. Chapter 3

Needless to say the girls were amazed by the Hellicarrier when they came into view of it. The moment they landed Loki was taken away and the girls were introduced to agent Coulson.

The girls walked down the hall following Coulson to the briefing room where they'd meet Director Fury while the others were putting Loki away. They entered the large room where agents were busy flying the massive hellicarrier.

"Cool digs." Olivia said as they walked over to the table where an imposing man wearing an eye path and black duster was standing.

"Please take a seat." The Director said and the girls complied. "I saw what you all did in Germany and I have to say that I'm impressed."

"Thanks." Kayla said with a smile. "Now why are we here?"

"You have met Loki and are aware that he poses magical qualities, he has taken an ancient artifact that hold immense power that he wants to use to take over the world we need your help in stopping him." He said getting straight to the point.

"But you caught him, why do you need us now?" Olivia asked leaning back in her chair.

"He had captured some of our people and the tesseract is still missing, we need your help to fight them and your magic to find it." He replied. The girls looked at each other sharing a silent conversation and nodded.

"I can try tracking it down with my magic, but I'll need a general location." Olivia said clutching her staff.

"Then I'll have you working with Bruce Banner and Stark." Fury said. "I'll need some names."

"Kayla Redgrave a.k.a. Excalibur and Olivia Sterling a.k.a. Avalon." Kayla said pointing to each of them.

"I'll have Coulson take you to your rooms. I need to go talk to our guest." Fury said.

"What about our stuff. We'll need our clothes." Olivia said.

"Already here." Fury said and then was gone. Coulson lead them to their rooms and they got settled in. Coulson said that he would come back for them for the briefing.

Kayla's uniform consisted of a black form fitting black cat suit with dark wine colored lines going up on either side, a dark wine colored belt, dark wine colored knee high boots, a dark wine colored long sleeved jacket that reached mid chest, and a pair of black fingerless and backless gloves.

Olivia wore a high necked black sleeveless cat suit with a zipper going up the front. A dark red belt hung loosely around her hip, a pair of dark red fingerless gloves was on her hands, and dark red knee high boots were on her feet. A long dark red cloak hung around her shoulders with a hood hanging off the back. They strapped their weapons on and were ready to go.

-0-

Everyone either stood or sat around the briefing room table and listened in on Fury and Loki's conversation. Kayla was absentmindedly polishing Excalibur as she listened as Olivia was standing nearby rolling her staff from hand to hand.

"Incase it's unclear," Fury said and typed on the computer, "You try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass, 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works? Ant, boot."

"It's an impressive cage; not built I think, for me." Loki laughed.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury said, and I crossed my arms.

"Oh, I've heard," Loki said and looked at the camera, "A mindless beast, makes play he's still a man. How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you."

"How desperate am I?" Fury asked, "You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that ya did."

"Ooh, it burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power, and for what? A warm light for all of mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is." Loki said.

"Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something," Fury said walking away. Olivia snorted then startled slightly when it seemed that Loki snapped his head to the screen right before it went off line.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Bruce asked.

"Just like a fungus." Olivia said earning a glare from Thor which she ignored.

"Loki's gonna drag this out," Kayla said putting her sword back in its sheath on her back.

"So, Thor," Cap said, "What's his play?"

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asguard or of any world known." Thor said, "He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return I suspect for the Tesseract."

"An army? From outer space," Cap said.

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Eric Selvig for." Bruce said.

"Selvig?" Thor asked.

"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce said as Olivia was walking over.

"He's a friend," Thor said.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours," Natasha said then turned to Olivia. "Think you can do anything about it?"

"If we get close enough then yeah I can probably reverse it, but is worse comes to worse a sharp blow to the head would do just as well." Olivia said as Natasha nodded.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him," Cap said, "He's not leading an Army from here."

"I know he had more than a good chance to escape when you guys were going at it." Kayla mused.

"I don't think we need to be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him," Bruce said causing Olivia to laugh although she stopped fast. She hadn't meant to let that out.

"Have care on how you speak," Thor said looking at Bruce and Olivia, "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asguard, and he is my brother."

"He's killed 80 people," Natasha said. "In 2 days,"

"He's adopted," Thor said, and Kayla raised an eyebrow.

"Really, that's your excuse?" Olivia said shaking her head.

"Well that explains absolutely…" Kayla paused for a moment placing a finger to her lips in a thoughtful way. "Nothing."

"I think it's about the mechanics, Iridium. What do they need the iridium for?" Bruce asked.

"It's the stabilizing agent," Stark said walking into the room with Coulson. He said a few things to Coulson who nodded before continuing. "He needs it so the portal won't collapse on itself like it did on SHIELD." Stark walked over to Thor and patted him on the arm. "No hard feelings point break you've got a mean swing,"

"Also, it means the portal can stay wide, and open as long as Loki wants," Stark said and then let out orders, and everyone looked at him like he was an idiot.

"So he can bring as many of those aliens as he wants to Earth." Kayla said as she rubbed her temples. "So what? This is like Independence day or War of the Worlds?"

"Both it would seem." Olivia said.

"That man is playing Galaga. Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did." Stark said pointing at a guy and then made his way to the control panels.

"Really?" Kayla asked looking as interested as Steve. She loved old games.

"How does Fury even see these?" Stark asked as he covered one of his eyes and looked at all of the screens.

"He turns," Hill said simply.

"Sounds exhausting, the rest of the raw materials agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source of high energy density." Stark said. "Something to kick-start the cube."

"When did you become an expert at thermo-nuclear-astrophysics?" Hill asked.

"Last night," Stark said. "The extraction. Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers, am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Would Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Cap asked.

"He'd have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break through the cool room barrier," Bruce said.

"Unless Selvig has figured out a way to stabilize the quantum telling effect," Stark said.

"Well if he could do that he could create heavy ion fusion in any reactor on the planet," Olivia said earning her more looks. "Just because I use magic doesn't mean that I don't know about science as well. The two pretty much go hand in hand."

"Finally, people who speak English," Stark said shaking Olivia's hand then Bruce's.

"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked Kayla who just shrugged unknowingly.

"I have no idea; usually I just tune Olivia out when she starts to talk like this." Kayla said. Then the three of them started talking more sciency stuff "I've got a headache."

Kayla rubbed her forehead and Steve nodded in agreement after trying to follow along with what they were saying.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Fury said, "I was hoping you might join him."

"You may want to start on that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a hydra weapon," Cap said.

"That's what Olivia will be doing, tracking the magic part," Fury said, "The staff is powered by the cube, and I'd like to know how Loki turned two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand-" Thor started to say.

"-I do!" Cap said, "I understood that reference."

"Good for you, Cap," Kayla said as she pat him on the back making him blush.

"Shall we play, Dr? Olivia?" Stark asked Bruce and Olivia.

"If you say so," Bruce said.

"Sounds good to me." Olivia said rubbing her hands together in excitement.

"Don't blow anything up… again." Kayla shouted after Olivia.

"I promise nothing, Kayla." Olivia said with a wave over her shoulder.

"Is she really going to blow something up?" Steve asked.

"Of course not." Kayla said with a nervous smile then crossed her fingers behind her back.


	4. Chapter 4

"The gamma range is definitely consistent with Selvig's reports with the tesseract." Bruce said as he ran a scanner over the scepter. "It's going to take week to process."

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to their homer cluster, we can clock this at around 600 teraflops." Tony responded as he fiddled with his giant computer.

"All I packed was a toothbrush." Bruce laughed nervously.

"At least you guys got to pack, I'm working with what a male agent thought I would need." Olivia said as she waved her hand over the scepter causing strange red Celtic symbols to appear that soon formed a compass rose.

"You know Bruce you should come by Stark towers sometime, top ten floors all R&D." Stark said while walking over to them. "You'd love it, its Candy land."

"Thanks but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke Harlem." Bruce said.

"Almost break a continent then we'll talk." Olivia mumbled then noticed the looks she was getting from the other two. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok, well I promise a stress free environment. No tension, no surprises." Stark said as he circled around Bruce then poked him in the side with a small metal stick that gave off an electrical discharge.

"Ow." Bruce jerked as Tony got real close to see if his eyes changed colors.

"Hey." Steve snapped as he walked into the lad followed by Kayla who had brought some snacks. Olivia smiled a quickly snatched a pack of raspberries.

"Nothing." Stark said still talking to Bruce.

"Are you nuts?" Steve asked with a glare.

"Jury's out." Stark replied.

"Well it just came back in you are." Kayla said crossing her arms.

"Calm down Kayla, I'm sure the Doctor has it under control." Olivia said as she continued to stare down at the staff reading the symbols that floated over it, but didn't seem to be having much luck while popping berries into her mouth.

"You really have got a lid on it. What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, huge bag of weed?" Stark questioned.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked.

"Funny things are." Stark replied.

"This isn't funny." Kayla said.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny." Steve said added then turned to Bruce. "No offense Doc."

"It's all right. I wouldn't have come on board if I couldn't handle pointy things." Bruce said still working as a slight smile played along his mouth.

"You're tip-toeing big man. You need to strut." Stark said walking over and grabbing a bag of blueberries from the snacks Kayla had brought.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Steve said.

"Do you think I'm not?" Stark questioned. "Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all of the variables."

"You think Fury is hiding something?" Steve asked.

"He's a spy. Captain he is the spy. His secrets have secrets." Tony said as he popped a handful of berries into his mouth then gesture to Bruce and Olivia. "It bugging them to, isn't it?"

"Kind of." Olivia said with a shrug.

"Uh…I just want to finish my work here and…" Bruce said when Stark looked at him.

"Doctor?" Steve questioned. Bruce looked around the room and Olivia gave him a why not shrug.

"A warm light for all mankind." Bruce said. "Loki's jab as Fury about the cube."

"I heard it." Steve said.

"Well I think that was meant for you." Bruce said pointing to Tony who then offered him some of his blueberries which he took. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That big, ugly," Steve froze for a moment as Stark raised an eyebrow. "building in New York?"

"Yep, that's the one." Kayla said earning a glare from Stark.

"It's powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source." Bruce said.

"Kind of like the energizer bunny on steroids." Olivia said not looking up from the scepter. She disbursed the symbols and started over.

"That building will run itself for, what, a year?" Bruce asked.

"It's just the prototype." Stark said. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So why didn't S.H.I.E.L.D. bring him in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce asked. "What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret files." Stark said walking over to Steve with a monitor in hand.

"I'm sorry, did you say…" Steve asked, but Stark cut him off.

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge." Stark said. "In a few hours I will know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide, blueberry?" Stark offered Steve.

"And yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around." Steve said.

"An intelligence organization that fear intelligence? Historically not awesome." Stark said.

"I think Loki is trying to wind us up." Steve said. "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he'll succeed. We have orders we should follow them."

"Following's not really my style." Stark said.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" Steve asked.

"Of the people in this room, which one is A wearing a spangly outfit and B not of use?" Stark asked causing Steve to glare at him.

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you." Bruce said.

"Just find the cube." Steve said then left. Olivia gestured with her head for Kayla to follow.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Stark asked clearly miffed. "I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

"Give the guy a break, he's from a time where the government was without fault to most people." Olivia said typing something into an I PAD.

"Huh, the guys not wrong about Loki." Bruce said. "He does have the jump on us."

"What he's got is an Acme dynamite kit." Stark said. "It's going to blow up in his face and I'm going to be their when it does."

"Well I'll read all about it." Bruce said.

"Or you'll be suiting up with the rest of us." Stark said earning a mirthless laugh from Bruce.

"You see I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed. Like a nerve." Bruce said. "It's a nightmare."

"I've got a cluster of shrapnel trying every second to crawl its way into my heart." Tony said as he walked over to Bruce then points to his arc reactor. "This stops it. This little circle of light its part of me now, not just armor. It's a terrible privilege."

"But you can control it." Bruce pointed out.

"Because I learned how." Stark said.

"It's different." Bruce said with a shake of his head.

"Hey I read all about your accident, that much gamma exposure should have killed you." Stark said.

"So you're saying that the Hulk…the other guy saved my life?" Bruce said. "That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?"

"I guess we'll find out." Stark said.

"You may not enjoy that." Bruce said.

"And you just might." Stark said then turned to Olivia. "So a continent, huh?"

Olivia glanced from him to the back of Bruce who also seemed interested, but was trying to hide it.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Bruce said sensing her discomfort.

"No it's ok." Olivia said then taking a deep breath she told them.

"Magic is a dangerous thing when not controlled, even when you think you have a handle on it, it can easily get out of hand again. I was in Ireland when I was attacked by some less than savory creatures sent to take my staff and Excalibur. I had never fought something like this before. I did my best to fight them off, but they kept coming so I pulled on more magic and before I knew it I couldn't stop the flow." Olivia's eye brows scrunched together. "I don't know how many I killed that day. I was, am too afraid to know. If it wasn't for Kayla pulling me back the whole of Ireland would have been lost."

"And you still use your magic? Why?" Bruce questioned not turning back to his computer.

"For all of the good it can do." Olivia said with a sad shrug. "It's not just something I can throw away. It I don't use it, it will build up until it goes nuclear and no one wants that. Like Tony said it's a part of me, it's a terrible privilege."

-0-

After walking out of the lab Kayla glanced over at Steve.

"You think he's on to something?" Kayla asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." He said then started off down one of the halls with Kayla hot on his heels. They soon came to a secure door and Steve started to try and pull it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"Back up a bit." Kayla said as she drew her sword.

"I don't think a sword…" Steve started to say but stopped when the sword slipped between the door jam and cut the locks off like butter.

"You were about to say?" Kayla asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Right, magic legendary sword, nevermind." Steve said as he opened the now unlocked door then stepped aside. Kayla raised an eyebrow wondering why he wasn't going in then realized.

"Oh, sorry." Kayla said as she went in. "We have a saying now a days that chivalry is dead. Who knew it was just frozen for seventy some odd years."

"The world really had changed." Steve said as they entered. There were boxes everywhere.

"Not too much, you'll find things that have endured the test of time if you look hard enough. If you want after all of this is over I'll show you around a bit." Kayla said.

"I'd like that." Steve said with a smile making Kayla blush.

"So what are we looking for exactly?" Kayla asked trying to hide her blush.

"Evidence, come on," Cap said, and he jumped up, and Kayla put her hands on her hips as she watched. He then leaned over the bar and offered her a hand up. Instead Kayla took a couple of steps back, jumped up, grabbed the bar, and flipped over it.

"Wow." Cap said.

"Thanks." Kayla said. "Excalibur enhances my physical attributes."

"What would happen if you ever lost it?" Steve asked as he walked up to one of the boxes.

"It's impossible for me to lose it. No matter where Excalibur is I can summon it to me, when it's not with me it's in a sub space pocket. It's kind of like Thor and Mjolnir, only I can wield it. The only way it can be taken from me is by and extremely powerful magic. Then it would kill me." Kayla said as Steve forced open a container. Upon seeing the contents his face went hard. "What is it?"

"Hydra weapons." Steve said as she looked over his shoulder into the case where old weapons lay in decay.

"Stark was right." Kayla said upon seeing the Hydra logo. Steve grabbed one of the guns and they left to find Fury.

-0-


	5. Chapter 5

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury asked walking into the lab.

"Busted." Olivia said from where she was sitting on a counter.

"Uh, kinda been wondering the same thing about you." Stark replied.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury said his anger apparent.

"We have the models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now." Bruce said gesturing to the staff that now had a glowing shifting map hovering over it. "When we get a hit we'll have the location within a half mile. Then Olivia will get the exact location for us."

"Yeah then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss." Stark said distractidly. "What is phase two?"

"Phase two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons." Steve said as he dropped the hydra weapon onto a nearby table. "Sorry computer was moving a little slow for me."

"Not exactly what they told us in the brochure." Kayla said with a glare at Fury.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're making…" Fury started but was cut off by Stark.

"I'm sorry Nick what were you lying." Stark said as he pulled a monitor around showing the schematics for a bomb.

"That looks very weaponish to me." Olivia commented with a raised eyebrow.

"I was wrong director the world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said with a glare as Thor and Natasha walked in.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asked Natasha.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor?" Natasha asked calmly.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." Bruce seethed silently.

"Loki's manipulating you," Natasha said.

"What are you talking about? Loki's locked up in a glass container." Olivia said in confusion.

"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce asked Natasha.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes," Natasha said, and Kayla shared a look with Olivia who looked slightly miffed.

"And I'm not leaving because suddenly you become a little twitchy." Bruce said and looked at the monitor, "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of Mass Destruction."

"Because of him," Fury said and pointed at Thor.

"Me?" Thor asked.

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet and had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly hilariously outgunned." Fury explained in a forced voice.

"I didn't know about that." Kayla said.

"Well, not many people did." Natasha said.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor said.

"But you're not the only people out there are you? And you're not the only threat," Fury said, "The World's filling up with people that can't be matched."

"If you're referring to the mutant phenomenon then you need to back up real quick. Some of our closest friend's are mutants." Kayla said with a glare. "And I don't like the idea of anyone trying to control them."

"Not everyone had good intentions Excalibur. They can't be controlled." Fury said.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Cap asked.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the other realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor said.

"That doesn't sound good." Olivia said nervously.

"A higher form?" Kayla asked.

"You forced our hand, we had to come up with something-" Fury started.

"-A nuclear deterrent, because that's what always calms everything right down." Stark said interrupting Fury.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Steve asked.

"Low blow." Olivia said with a shake of her head.

"I'm sure if he didn't make weapons Stark would still be neck deep-" Steve continued.

"-Hold on, how is this now about me?" Stark asked cutting off Cap.

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve asked.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor said.

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" Fury asked and then all heck broke loose.

"You speak of control yet you cause chaos." Thor said.

"That's the M.O. isn't it? What are we a team? No, no, no, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're, we're a time bomb," Bruce said as tension grew.

"You need to step away," Fury said in a warning voice.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Stark asked throwing his hands up in the air.

"You know damn well, why. Back off." Steve said getting angry.

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Stark said getting into Steve's face.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor, take that off, what are you?" Cap asked.

"Genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist," Stark said.

"An annoying pain in the butt." Kayla mumbled as Tony shot her a glare.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play. To lie down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you," Cap said.

"I think I would just cut the wire," Stark smarted off.

"Always a way out," Cap said. "You know you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending you're a hero."

"A hero? Like you?" Stark asked, "You're a laboratory experiment Rodgers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

"Well everything special about you came out of Home Depot." Kayla snapped at Tony.

"Did anyone ask you?" Tony snapped back.

"Hey leave her alone." Steve said.

"I don't need you to protect me." Kayla bit out.

"There is just so much love in this room right now." Olivia said to herself with a shake of her head. "The world is going to heck in a hand basket and we're too busy fighting amongst ourselves to even do anything."

"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds," Cap said.

"Alright, both of you need to take a time out; calm down," Kayla said stepping in-between the two of them. "You both are acting so stupid."

"Hahahahaha, you people are so petty, and tiny." Thor said.

"This is getting tense." Olivia said to herself and then she realized that something was affecting them. She could feel it now as tensions grew to the breaking point. It was a spell of discord. The fighting started to blend together as a strange humming filled the air.

"Agent Romanov, would you escort Dr. Banner to-" Fury started to say.

"-Where? You rented out my room," Banner said.

"The cell was just-" Fury said.

"-In-case you needed to kill me, but you can't. I know, I tried," Banner said.

"What?" Olivia said her head snapping in his direction, all thoughts of the spell forgotten for the moment. Everything seemed to freeze and focus on Banner.

"I got low, didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it out," Bruce said. "So I moved on, I focused on helping other people, I was good. Until you dragged me back into this freak show, and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret Agent Romanov? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Everyone went silent and tensed as they watched the Doctor nervously. He didn't even seem aware of what was in his hand.

"Dr. Banner. Put down the scepter." Steve said as Olivia walked slowly over to him and put a calming hand on his shoulder. Banner hadn't even realized he was holding it until he looked down. There was a beep, and Banner put down the scepter, and walked over to the computer followed by Olivia.

"Sorry kids, look like you don't get to see my party trick after all." Bruce said as he typed into the computer.

"You located the Tesseract." Thor said. Then everybody started arguing again, but Olivia noticed Bruce's look of concern.

"Bruce? What's wrong?" Olivia asked ignoring the fight around her.

"Oh my God." Bruce said as he grabbed Olivia and pulled her away from the window. Then there was an explosion, and they were flung back through a window, along with Natasha and Bruce to a sub level. Slowly Kayla came back to her senses and the ringing in her ears lessened. She could her chaos and panic all over the ship.

"Somebody's got to get outside to patch that engine." Someone yelled. Kayla looked up and followed Stark and Steve out to fix the engine along with Thor.

"Stark, you copy that?" Fury asked.

"Got it," Stark said.

"Romanoff?" Fury said.

"We're okay," Natasha said as she tried to pull her leg out from some metal debris. Natasha looked over and saw Bruce was having a hard time and then to Olivia who was laying nearby.

"We're okay, right?" Natasha asked. Bruce was losing it. "Doctor? Bruce? You got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're going to be ok. Just listen to me."

"Are you guys hurt?" A couple of engineers asked jogging over. Natasha saw guys coming, and motioned for them to run. Which upon seeing Bruce they did.

"We're going to be ok. All right? I swear, on my life, I will get you out of this, you will walk away and never ever…" Natasha started.

"-YOU'RE LIFE?!" Bruce yelled, and they saw his face going green, and he looked like he was trying hard to fight it.

"Holy crap." The yell caused Olivia to jerk awake. She groaned as she very slowly stood up using her staff for balance. She saw Natasha was under a piece of metal, and she couldn't get up then saw Bruce's situation.

"Bruce, oh crap." Olivia waved her staff and moved it off of Natasha's leg. Olivia helped Natasha to her feet and started to back away slowly.

"Are you hurt? Can you run?" Olivia asked. She rather run than try and fight the Hulk off.

"I'm good." Natasha said with a nod. Olivia looked at Bruce, his eyes were an apologetic normal warm brown, and then they turned raging neon green. "We need to get out of here."

They got onto ground, and looked at the Hulk. He spotted them and roared.

"Well this inhales forcefully." Olivia said. The Hulk growled at them again, and they ran up the stairs. Olivia flipped onto the next level as did Nat as they ran for their lives. Right as they moved, he took out the ground, letting out a loud growl.

"OLIVIA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Kayla yelled into the link as Olivia who was still running, staying close to Nat who was limping along.

"I'M SKIING ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA; THE SEA BREEZE IS INVIGORATING TO MY FACE." Olivia yelled. "WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M BLOODY WELL DOING, I'M RUNNING FOR MY LIFE!"

"Thor, we need some major muscle down below with the Hulk." Kayla yelled. Thor nodded and took off.

-0-

They quieted down once they were hidden, and Nat and Olivia moved quietly, and you could hear the Hulk's footsteps. Olivia gulped, and readied her staff as Nat got out her gun, and they moved, and there was the Hulk.

Nat shot the pipe above him, and he groaned as the contents of the pipe sprayed into his face. Using the distraction they ran with him following us tearing everything apart.

They ran as fast as they could through the interior leaping over and rolling under pipes trying to put some distance between them and the Hulk. They had just made to some stairs when he knocked Nat into a wall, hard. Olivia slid in front of her, and put a shield up with her staff, so the Hulk kept banging on it, weakening it with every hit.

"BRUCE! LISTEN TO ME! IT'S ME, OLIVIA! YOU KNOW ME! YOU'VE GOTTA STOP!" He paused for a moment towering over her. Olivia was so afraid she felt like she was going to pass out. "Please, I don't want to fight you. Please listen to me! Please! You have got to stop this! We're your friends!"

"Friends?" The Hulk grunted uncertainly.

"Yes, friends. Please just calm down." Olivia said as she slowly reached out to touch his arm. He paused for a moment and started to hold out his hand to her when he was tackled through a wall by Thor. Olivia made to follow, but stopped to check on Natasha.

"Go. I'll be fine." Nat said as Olivia knelt down next to her.

"Just stay here and I'll send for help, alright?" Olivia asked standing up quickly.

"Okay, go." Nat said and Olivia darted out of the room.

Olivia ran down the hall until she was in a large hanger where Thor and Hulk had been fighting. She followed the destruction until she found them in the lab. Hulk had just thrown Thor across the room when Olivia ran in. Hulk whipped around and growled at her. Olivia realized that this was not the best place to be considering the window behind her, but she had to stop the Hulk before he destroyed everything.

"Please Bruce, you need to calm down. The Hulk isn't a separate being from you he is a part of you just like my magic and me." Olivia reasoned as she slowly held out her hand not noticing the jet behind her that was about to fire.

She was just about to place her hand on his arm when the Hulk grabbed her just as bullets started to rip through the window and used his body to block the bullets. He quickly tossed her onto Thor who barely caught her and carried her through the nearby door.

The Hulk then roared and jumped through the window onto the jet. He beat on it for a while before the pilot ejected and what was left of the plane and Hulk fell to the ground. Olivia ran over to the window looking for any sign of Bruce, but saw nothing except for the explosion of the jet. Olivia ran over to the window looking for any sign of Bruce, but saw nothing except for the explosion of the jet.

"BRUCE!" Olivia screamed. Tears started to gather in her eyes at the possibility of his demise. Thor came beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I must go to make sure Loki does not escape." Thor said as he helped Olivia up. "There will be a time for grieving, but it is not now."

Olivia stumbled to her feet and nodded.

"I should go find Kayla." Olivia said pulling herself together. With one final glance at where Bruce fell she ran down the hall to where Kayla, Steve, and Tony were.

-0-

Kayla ran as fast as she could and soon arrived at the busted engine. She felt someone wrap their arms around her waist, and hit him in the solar plexus, instep, nose, and then groin. She drew her sword and decapitated one man then stabbed the other.

"CAP!" Kayla yelled out. Cap jumped down in front of her startling her.

"Cover me." He ordered and Kayla nodded.

"Gotcha." Kayla said.

He jumped back up beside a red lever, and then a guy threw a grenade. Cap jumped and batted it away before it could hurt the engine anymore. Kayla charged the man before he could do more and took him out. Two other guys came and shot at Kayla making her duck behind a wall. She reached down into her boot and pulled out two daggers. She whipped around the corner and threw both of them stabbing the men in the throats.

Steve jumped down and started to fight a long side her before he grabbed a gun, jumped back up next to the lever, and started to open fire. He stepped backwards and lost his balance falling over the edge. A man came in and fired up at Steve, but another blade from Kayla to his throat stopped him. Then the ship started to tilt. Kayla grabbed onto a wall holding on so she wouldn't slip. Looking up she saw Steve climbing up a cord.

"What the heck are you doing there?" Kayla asked as she started to climb over to him. She leaned down to help him up, stretching her arm as far as it would go.

"Cap, hit the lever!" Stark said urgently.

"Give me a minute here!" Cap said as he grabbed Kayla's arm and she pulled him up.

"Uh oh," Stark said, and then he yelled then there was a clanging sound as Stark was hit around by the fan before Steve could pull the lever giving him a chance to escape which he barely did. He flew over and hit the guy that was shooting at Rodgers and Kayla.

"If you couldn't get the lever why didn't you just grab it then pull him up." Stark snapped standing shakily to his feet after they told him what had taken so long. Steve and Kayla looked at each other for a moment.

"Didn't think of that." Kayla said with a shrug. Stark took a menacing step toward her then they heard it.

"Agent Coulson is down." Fury said

"A medical team is on your way to your location," An agent said over the com.

"They're here," Fury said, "They called it."

-0-

Kayla, Olivia, Steve, and Stark sat around the table in the briefing room. No one said anything, what was there to say. Banner and Thor were M.I.A., they got Clint back, but he was still trying to flush out Loki, the ship was crippled, Loki had escaped, and Coulson was dead. All in all things were looking pretty crappy.

Fury appeared shortly after with a solemn look on his face as he stood at the other end of the table. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes too when he threw Coulson's Captain America trading cards on the table at Steve. He picked one up that had blood on the corner and running down the card.

"We're dead in the air up here, our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you, lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Fury paused before continuing. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes."

Tony stood up abruptly and walked out of the room not saying a word. Olivia let her head fall to the table as Kayla rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Well, it's an old fashioned notion." Fury said despondently.

-0-

"Maybe we should just leave, we weren't supposed to be a part of this anyway. It was just an accident." Olivia said as she looked around the remains of the lab. She bent down and picked up Bruce's glasses that had amazingly survived the explosion. She sent a silent prayer out for him in hoped that he may have survived the fall as the Hulk.

"There are no accidents." Kayla said as she stared out the window, neither one noticing Steve in the door way. "Coulson gave his life trying to save the world, how can we do any less?"

"We barely even knew the man." Olivia said with a sad laugh placing the glasses in her cloak pocket.

"Does that make any difference?" Kayla asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know it doesn't." Olivia said then noticed the Captain standing there. "Captain?"

"We're going to Manhattan; we've located the Tesseract, you two in?" He asked. Kayla and Olivia looked at each other then the captain with twin smiles.

"Yes sir." They said together as they saluted him causing him to role his eyes.

"Then get a move on." He said as he started down the hall with them following. They were soon joined by Natasha and another guy.

"Hello." Olivia said as she walked up to them. "Who are you?"

"Clint Barton, Hawkeye, you?" Clint asked as they kept walking.

"Kayla, Excalibur and Olivia, Avalon." Kayla replied for them.

"What happened to your forehead?" Olivia asked gesturing to a giant bruise forming on Clint's forehead.

"Cognitive recalibration." Natasha replied.

"Ouch." Olivia said as they walked onto a jet. A younger pilot turned around upon hearing them enter the plane.

"You guys aren't authorized to be in here." He said.

"Son, just don't." Steve said holding up his hand. The young pilot got up and exited the jet as Barton and Natasha sat in the unoccupied pilot seats. They flew as fast as they could to Manhattan with Stark in the lead.


	6. Chapter 6

"Sir, I've turned off the arc reactor, but the device is already self sustaining." Jarvis said.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig." Tony ordered.

"It's too late. She can't stop now. She wants to show us something, a new universe." Selvig said with excitement.

"Okay." Tony said then fired at the tesseract only for it to bounce off of a shield and hit him and Selvig

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable." Jarvis said.

"Yeah, I got that." Tony said as he looked down and saw Loki standing on his balcony. "Plan B."

"Sir the mock seven is not ready for deployment." Jarvis warned.

"Then skip the spinning rims. We're on the clock." Stark said as he landed and walked into the building as Jarvis removed his battered Iron man suit.

"I hope you appeal to my humanity." Loki said.

"Actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Stark said.

"Well you should've kept your armor on for that," Loki said.

"Yeah, It's seen a little bit of mileage, and you've got the little glow stick of destiny," Stark said walking down the steps. "Would you like a drink?"

"Stalling me won't change anything," Loki said.

"No, no, no, threatening. No drink, you sure? I'm having one." Stark said grabbing a glass and bottle.

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing can change that." Loki said looking out the window, "What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Stark said simply. Loki looked confused. "That's what we call ourselves. It's sort of like a team. Earth's mightiest heroes type thing."

"Yes, I've met them," Loki said, and I poured into a glass.

"Yeah, takes us a while to give us any traction I'll give you that one. But let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demi God, the super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breath taking anger management issues, the last descendants of King Arthur and the Wizard Merlin, and a couple of master assassins. And you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them." Stark said putting on his bracelets.

"That was the plan," Loki said.

"Not a great plan," Stark said drinking, "When they come, and they will; they'll come for you."

"I have an army," Loki said.

"We have a Hulk," Stark said.

"Oh I thought the beast had wondered off," Loki said.

"You're missing the point. There's no throne. There's no version of this that you come out on top. Maybe your army comes, and maybe it's too much, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." Stark said.

"How will your friends have time for me, when they're too busy fighting you?" He asked, and put his little stick down on Starks chest, but the arc reactor stopped it. He tried it again confused. "This usually works."

"Well performance issues, not uncommon, 1 out of 5-" Stark was cut off by him grabbing me and tossing him. "Jarvis, anytime now."

"You will all fall before me."He picked Stark up again.

"Deploy!" Stark said. Then he tossed Stark out the window."DEPLOY!"

The suit followed Stark, it scanned his arm, and it hooked on to him just missing the sidewalk and he shot back up.

"And there's one other person you pissed off. His name was Phil." Stark then shot him before he could get him with his glow stick of destiny, and then the bridge opened and aliens poured out.

"Right, Army," Stark said and shot a couple of them down.


	7. Chapter 7

"Stark, we're heading north east." Natasha said.

"What, did you stop for drive-thru?" Stark snapped.

"Don't worry we got you some French fries." Kayla joked with a role of her eyes.

"Good. Swing that park, I'm gonna lay 'em out for you." Stark's voice said throughout the jet.

"Nat?" Clint said.

"Yeah I see him." Nat replied then opened fire on Loki.

"Crap, brace yourselves." Olivia called out.

The plane jolted as it was hit by Loki. Olivia grabbed one of the hand holds above them, but Kayla wasn't so lucky. The jet shook and headed for the ground sending Kayla falling only for Steve to grab her at the last minute, pulling her to his chest. She wrapped her arms around him holding on for dear life. Everyone in the jet braced themselves as the jet crashed into the ground, sliding. Everyone froze for a moment gathering their wits. Kayla tried to pull away, but Steve still had a good hold on her. She blushed deep red.

"Steve, could you let me go." Kayla asked. Blushing he complied.

"Sorry." He said.

"That's ok, thanks for the save." Kayla said as she followed Steve out of the jet.

"No problem." He replied then they looked up; their eyes widening at the strange airship emerging from the portal.

"What the heck is that?" Kayla exclaimed. Steve gave her a quick glance before turning back to it.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asked.

"I'm seeing, still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?" Tony asked.

"Banner?" Olivia questioned confused.

"Just keep me posted." Tony said before cutting communication.

The group ran through the streets fighting off the Chitauri. Natasha fired on the strange creatures as Steve hit them with his shield. Kayla sliced through any that came near them while Olivia fired blasts of energy at them. They ducked behind a taxi as more Chitauri landed near them. Steve turned to Natasha and Clint.

"We got civilians trapped up here." Clint said just as some flyers buzzed by over head.

"Loki." Steve said as he watched him go by and surveillance of the scene before him. "They're fish in a barrel down there."

More firing went off making everyone spring into action.

"We got this. It's good. Go." Nat said gesturing to the crowds.

"You think you can hold them off?" Steve asked, still unsure.

"Captain, it would be my genuine pleasure." Clint said while he and Natasha started shooting at them along with Olivia.

"Time for some thrilling heroics people." Olivia said as she blocked some of the aliens off while Nat and Clint got people off of a bus.

"Just like Budapest all over again." Natasha said to Clint.

"You and I remember Budapest very differently." Clint said.

"You guys must have some interesting stories." Olivia commented as she was grabbed from behind only to grab the alien, fling it over her shoulder, and obliterate it.

Kayla followed Steve through the war zone that used to be a street heading for the cops nearby as they dodged aliens and oncoming weapons fire. He jumped onto one of the police cars while Kayla kept a look out for any Chitauri.

"I need men in these buildings. There are people inside that can run into the line of fire. You take them through the basement or through the subway; you keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th." Steve instructed pointing at each building.

Kayla swiped the heads off two more Chitauri when another two got passed her. She finished off two more then spun around to stop the others, but it was to late and they were about to attack Steve.

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" The officer said. The two Chitauri that had gotten past Kayla approached Steve as he turned around and took them down with his shield.

"That's why." Kayla laughed as the officer started repeating Steve's orders. "We need to get back to the others."

"Stay close." Steve said as they ran back through the war zone. They went back to Natasha, Olivia, and Clint who battling mass amounts of Chitauri. Steve was to Kayla's left when she saw a lot of the Chitauri make its way to Steve. She ran over next to him and raised her sword and stabbed it into the ground placing her hands on either side.

"Here we go!" Kayla said. "Stay back."

"Kayla…what are you doing?" Clint asked with his head tilted to the right. Kayla opened her eyes and a pulse of energy shot out sending many of the soldiers flying into a building giving them time to regroup.

"It's kind of a shield pulse thing, but leaves me venerable so I don't' use it much." Kayla said. Thor arrived shortly after and landed next to Natasha and Clint.

"The powers surrounding the cube are impenetrable." Thor said looking up. Everyone looked to the portal as they head Tony's voice.

"Thor is right; we gotta deal with these guys." Stark said.

"How do we do this?" Natasha asked.

"As a team." He said.

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor responded.

"Yeah well get in line." Clint said.

"Save it. Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top, he's gonna need us..." Steve said.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Olivia asked as she heard the sound of a motor approaching their position. The sound got louder as a motorbike came into view with Bruce driving it. Olivia's smile stretched from ear to ear.

"So this all seems horrible." Bruce said as he walked up to them.

"Doesn't it though." Olivia said as she shot another alien then formed a temporary shield so they could have a moment of respite.

"I've seen worse." Natasha said eyeing Bruce apprehensively.

"I'm sorry." Bruce said sheepishly.

"No we could use a little worse right about now." Natasha replied.

"Stark, Bruce is here just like you said." Steve said into the com link.

"Good, tell him to suit up." Stark said. "I'm bringing the party to you."

"I don't' see how that's a party." Natasha said as a giant monster came flying around the corner following stark.

"Tony that is not a party." Kayla snapped into the com. Steve heard her and gave her a smirk as a laugh from Stark came in over the com. "Anthony Edward Stark, are you listening to me? I know for a fact that you have been to a lot of parties and this is in no way on God's green earth a party!"

"Dr. Banner now might be a good time for you to get angry." Steve said as everyone tensed ready for the fight.

"That's my secret Captain. I'm always angry."Bruce turned around and smirked. He nodded to Olivia who took that as her queue to lower her shield

Olivia watched wide eyed as Bruce transformed in to the Hulk and took down the ship. Stark flew up and blew the rest of it away before it had a chance to fall on them. The aliens screamed angrily.

"I think we pissed them off." Olivia said as the Hulk walked over to her standing protectively at her side. Olivia smiled up at him and placed her hand in his much larger hand causing him to smirk slightly down at her. Kayla shook her head and stood next to Steve as more ships appeared from the portal. Tony landed beside them as everyone looked up at the ships.

"Guys." Natasha said.

"Call it, Captain." Tony said.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, we're gonna use containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash." Steve commanded.

"Better clench up there Legolas." Stark said as he grabbed Clint and they flew off. Tony lifted Clint onto his designated roof top before flying around the city's perimeter.

"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You've got the lightning, light them up. You three are with me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk," Steve said with a smirk as the Hulk turned toward him. "smash!"

With one last smile at Olivia the Hulk leaped up and started to tear through alien like they were tissue paper, Thor blasted lightning at the portal slowing down the incoming, while the four of them were fighting off Chitauri left and right. Kayla stood further away from the three slicing away when she heard a thud behind her, looking back at a Chitauri coming at her.

"Crap." Kayla said dodging to the side. The Chitauri soldier swung his weapon at her as she dodged. She rolled behind the Chitauri and stabbed him in the back only for another to grab her and throw her into a bench nearby.

Kayla rolled out of the way and to her feet just as the same Chitauri went to strike her again. It jumped at her its weapon raised high for the strike.

"This is getting real old real fast." She growled grabbing the Chitauri in midair then launched the monster over her head making him land on the one Steve was fighting. Steve turned around looking where the creature came from and gave Kayla a two finger salute.

"Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Natasha told Steve as they kept fighting.

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it." Steve replied.

"Well, maybe it's not about guns." Natasha said looking up as Kayla and Olivia came running over to them.

"You wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride." Steve said as he took in the dried blood on her head.

"I could give you a ride." Olivia offered gesturing to her staff, but Natasha shook her head no.

"I got a ride. I could use a boost though." She said looking up at the Chitauri flying over head.

"You sure about this?" Steve asked following her gaze.

"Yeah, it's going to be fun." Nat replied with a nod though she did not seem so confident. Natasha ran at Steve who gave her a boost with his shield as Olivia and Kayla held the Chitauri back. Steve joined the fight sending another Chitauri flying back. He fought until he was back to back with Kayla.

"Kayla, serge, now." Olivia said and Kayla nodded.

"What's a serge?" Steve asked.

"No time, just stand back." Kayla said as she stabbed the ground again and Olivia slammed her staff on the ground at the same time causing a powerful serge of energy that fried any of the aliens within radius of it.

"That did some good." Kayla said as Steve looked at her and brushed a hand over her forehead.

"What happened to you?" he asked concern lacing his words. Kayla touched her own forehead looking down at the blood.

"Must have happened when I was thrown onto the bench, but I've had worse." Kayla smiled running down the street.

"She always this enthusiastic?" Steve asked Olivia who was laughing.

"Yes, always." Olivia said with a nod. Steve and Olivia followed her and fought off the Chitauri that came after them. They ended up near Stark Tower where Thor stood.

"Holy crap." Kayla snapped startling everyone.

"What, what is it?" Steve asked, alert looking around for any sign of danger near by.

"That building over there used to be Olivia's and mine's apartment." Kayla groaned, pointing to what was left of their home.

"Oh great, we're going to save the world and be homeless." Olivia groaned.

"Maybe we should focus on the matter at hand." Steve said with the hint of a smile.

"Right, sorry." Kayla said with a weak laugh.

"I'm going to Stark tower to find Loki. If Loki is using magic I have the best chance of taking him out." Olivia said jumping onto her staff like a witch on a broom and took off. Kayla looked up the building watching Olivia go as Steve appeared in front of her and knocking the unseen Chitauri away.

"Thanks." She said getting back to fighting.

"Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They cornered a lot of civilians in there." Barton said.

"We're on it." Steve said as they ran down the street. Steve and Kayla jumped in through a window into the bank.

"Captain, bomb." Kayla said pointing to the alien. Steve threw his shield hitting the alien and knocking the bomb out of its hand.

"Excalibur, get down." He said then grabbed Kayla and pulled her down behind a desk as they opened fire on them. He kicked the desk taking out two of them as the other scrambled for the bomb. Kayla leaped over the desk stabbing another in the gut then kicked it over the railing.

"Every one, clear out." Steve ordered as he was grabbed from behind.

The alien ripped his mask off as another got ready to fire on him only for Steve to flip over so he hit the other alien instead.

"It's about to go off." Kayla said as the bomb tempo increased. The alien that fired tried to grab the bomb and throw it at them, but it was too late. Steve rolled grabbed his shield, pulled Kayla to him and they jumped out of the window as it went off. They landed on top of a car crushing it and laid there for a while.

"That hurt." Kayla said and then they slowly got off. They surveyed the scene around them. It was horrible. The destruction and despairing people riddled the streets. "What do we do now?"

"Keep fighting." Steve said as they went back toward the fight.


	8. Chapter 8

Olivia landed on the balcony behind Loki her staff in hand while Loki's scepter was held casually at his side.

"Ah, the earthling wizard, do you really think your magic is a match for mine." Loki taunted as he turned around to face her.

"I guess we'll find out." Olivia replied as she twirled her spear till it pointed at him.

He lunged at her, his scepter low and Olivia twirled away bringing the butt of her staff down on his back. Loki snarled as he whipped around bringing his scepter down which Olivia barely blocked.

He charged at her again, but Olivia dodged away bringing her elbow down on his back making him stumble slightly before regaining his balance. Loki snarled as they glared at each other. They were locked together then Loki smirked as he removed one of his hands and sent a blast of energy at Olivia's stomach.

Olivia skidded backwards managing to stay on her feet with one hand on the ground and her staff held behind her. Her stomach was slightly burned, but it was nothing that she couldn't handle.

"So that's how you want to play." Olivia said then hit Loki hard enough in his chest with a heat blast that he fell to the ground. She rushed him, but stopped short and spun around just in time to send a blast of heat to his face from the tip of her staff.

"Nice illusion, but I can see right through them." Olivia said tapping the side of her head then sent a blast of frost at him until it completely covered him. "That should take care of you."

"I don't think so." Loki said shocking Olivia as he emerged from the frost completely blue with blood red eyes then slowly went back to normal.

"What the heck? Are you some kind of mutated Smurf or what?" Olivia asked as she edged away.

"Or what." Loki growled as he attacked again. Olivia pulled the sharp chop sticks from her bun and through them at Loki. One went into his arm, but he managed to knock the other away.

Olivia twirled her staff and brought it down sending an arc of energy at Loki who was distracted as he pulled the spike out of his arm then through it to the ground. The blast hit him hard enough that he fell to the ground. Olivia ran at him only for him to teleport and reappear behind her. She whirled around to find his scepter placed on her chest and a blue blast shot into her.

Olivia's mouth opened, but nothing came out as her eyes turned a vibrant blue. Loki backed away from her watching as the transformation tried to take over. He was so busy that he didn't notice the Hulk until he was plowed into by the ground by the green beast causing him to drop his scepter.

Loki flew through another window, winding up in the front room of Tony's apartment. Loki pulled himself up from the floor after he had crashed into the wall angrily. The Hulk started to rush at him, but he had had enough.

"Enough." Loki shouted making the Hulk pause for a moment. "You are, all of you, beneath me! I am a God, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by…"

The Hulk grabbed Loki by his legs and proceeded to slam him over and over into the ground leaving Loki in a deep crater groaning in pain with a look of absolute shock plastered onto his face.

"Puny God." Hulk said as he walked back over to Olivia.

She stood right where he had left her, fists clenched so tight that they were cutting into her hands. Her jaw was clenched shut in concentration as her eyes flickered from blue to burgundy. After a moment, her eyes returned back to her normal color and she fell limp, breathing hard. Hulk quickly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her towards him to be cradled in his arms. Olivia circled Hulk's neck and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, Hulk." Olivia said to the Hulk who grunted in response with a small smile before leaping from the building so they could rejoin the fight. They were soon surrounded on a roof top by Chitauri who opened fire on them. Olivia formed a shield, but was not strong enough to keep it up and even the Hulk was starting to have trouble.

-0-

The Chitauri kept coming wave after wave and they were running on fumes. Kayla saw Steve take a hit only to be helped up by Thor. She felt the presence of one of the aliens in front of her. Kayla threw her sword up to stop the creature when he was hit with Thor's hammer. Steve and Thor appeared next to her.

"Are you ready for another bout?" Thor asked.

"What, are you getting sleepy?" Steve asked breathing hard.

"I could go for a nap." Kayla said twirling her sword as Thor called his hammer back to him. "There is no end to these things."

"I can shut it down, I've got the staff." Natasha said.

"Never mind." Kayla said with a humorless laugh. "I was wrong."

"Then do it." Steve ordered quickly eager to get it over with.

"No wait." Stark said suddenly.

"Stark, these things are still coming." Steve said urgently.

"I got a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I just where to put it." Stark said in an eerily calm voice

"Is he really going to do this?" Kayla asked slightly panicked as they watched Tony fly toward the portal directing said nuke.

"Stark, you know that's a one way trip." Steve said calmly.

Tony ignored Steve and kept flying toward the portal. Kayla bowed her head saying a silent prayer while tears formed in her eyes. They starred up into the portal until the sight of a bright explosion went off in the portal. Chitauri everywhere jerked then fell to the ground dead as the explosion went off.

"Close it." Steve said and the portal started to close.

"This isn't how the stories supposed to go." Kayla whispered as Steve put his arm around her pulling her close to his side.

"Son of a gun!" Steve said looking up. Kayla's head snapped up to see Stark free falling though the portal.

"He made it." Kayla cheered grabbing onto Steve's arm.

"He's not slowing down." Thor said as he started to twirl his hammer ready to take off.


	9. Chapter 9

Olivia and Hulk were standing on a nearby building listening to the com link and gasped as they watched Stark fall.

"I don't have enough power to carry him. Hulk, can you catch him?" Olivia asked as she placed a hand on his arm causing him to look down at her.

The Hulk looked from her to Stark and nodded. He took a couple of steps back then leaped just in time to catch Stark. He used buildings to slow down then landed on the ground on his back with Stark on his chest.

Olivia glided down on her staff just in time to watch Hulk as he set Tony on the ground and stepped away. Kayla ran to Tony's side trying to get his helmet off when Thor ripped off for her. Steve knelt down beside her with Kayla behind him as he looked at Tony. Looking at his arc reactor they saw that it wasn't on.

"No." Olivia said sadly as she came to stand next to the Hulk. "He's gone?"

"He died a real hero." Kayla said solemnly.

"No. He has a girlfriend that needs him and people that care about him. I will not let him die." Olivia said shaking her head wildly as she knelt down put her hands over the reactor and tried to power it back up with shocks of magic, but nothing worked. She tried over and over again. "Please Tony, come on, wake up."

"Olivia, he's gone." Kayla said placing a hand on her shoulder. Death affected Olivia deeply even more so than others.

"No, please no." Olivia sobbed her head bowed. Everyone bowed their heads sadly in response. Suddenly the Hulk let out a loud yell startling everyone including Tony.

"What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?" Stark said then looked over at Olivia and Kayla. "Unless it was one of you too."

"No it was him." Olivia said gesturing to Hulk who smirked.

"Not funny." Stark said with a glare. "So what happened?"

"We won." Steve said in relief.

"Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it." Tony said in an enthusiastic albeit tired voice.

"We're not done yet." Thor told them while gripping his hammer starring up at the tower.

"And then shawarma after." Tony said earning a chuckle from everyone.

"Definitely." Kayla said with a smile.

"Well let's get back up there." Olivia said as they all started to walk to Stark Tower, but Olivia was falling behind leaning heavily on her staff.

"Olivia, you okay?" Kayla asked worriedly.

"Just really tired, Loki tried to take me over and I had to use a majority of my energy to fight it off." Olivia explained. Then to everyone's surprise the Hulk picked her up and started to carry her to Stark Tower.

"Well that's interesting." Steve commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Kind of a Beauty and the Beast thing." Stark added earning a glare from Hulk that shut him up. After a rather quiet elevator ride they came upon Loki crawling out of his crater covered in cuts and bruises. He looked up at all of them who looked ready to beat him further into the ground and gave a weak smile.

"If it's all the same to you I think I'll have that drink now." He said with a pained smile.

-0-

They all sat around a small table in the Shawarma restaurant that Tony had seen. Clint was sitting next to Natasha with his leg propped up on the edge of her chair, Bruce was next to him really chowing down since Hulking out really took it out of him, Olivia was next to sipping on her third chocolate milkshake, Tony was next to her leaning back in his chair, while Thor was next to him eating up a storm that surpassed Bruce by a country mile, then there was Kayla who was resting her head on her hands on the table, and then finally Steve who had his head propped up on his right fist picking at his food. No one said anything as the owners were sweeping up behind them.

-0-

Kayla and Olivia walked down the sidewalk after paying for their taxi to Thor and Loki. Kayla wore a blue halter top with a black scrunched sleeved leather jacket, a pair of dark skinny jeans that tucked into scrunched up boots.

Olivia wore a dark red sweater dress with a pair of black tights under it, and a pair of ballet flats. They made their way over to Natasha and Clint who climbed out of a SHIELD issued car. Steve was the next to show up on his motorcycle and parked before approaching the three assassins.

"Leave it to Tony to be late." She said when Tony drove up with Banner in the passenger seat. Thor led Loki to the railing as Tony opened the briefcase holding the Tesseract. Bruce put it into a container and then handed it to Thor.

"Come back and visit us sometime." Tony said to Thor.

"I would be honored." Thor said and nodded to all of them. They stood back and watched Thor and Loki disappeared back to Asgard. Olivia and Kayla started to walk away after saying their goodbyes with Clint and Natasha.

"Olivia, Kayla wait up." Tony said walking over to them.

"What's up?" Kayla asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I heard that you two are homeless, and would like to know how the two of you would like to come live in Stark towers." Tony asked. The girls exchanged a look. They had been living in a hotel since their home was no more. "Or you could stay on the Hellicarrier with Fury."

Fury had offered them positions as agents, but they weren't so sure about that. In fact they rather avoid SHIELD for as long as possible.

"Stark Towers sounds great." Kayla said with a large smile as Olivia nodded in agreement.

"Wait, won't it be weird with just us and you living together?" Olivia asked as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Nah, Pepper and Capsicle are going to be living there too along with Thor, Natasha, and Clint if I can convince then which I will." Tony said in a cocky voice then focused on Olivia. "Banner's coming to."

"Sounds fun." Kayla said rubbing her hands together as Olivia blushed while glaring at Tony who led them back to his car.

"Then hop in." He said gesturing to his car.

"Stark, that's a two seat car, where you're going to put Olivia and me." Kayla said with a laugh.

"Olivia can sit on Banner's lap." Stark said causing both Banner and Olivia to blush and glare at him. "I know they'd both like that."

"Thank you Tony, but I'm just going to go for a walk." Kayla said with a laugh.

"Come on, times wasting then." Stark said gesturing to Olivia.

"I could just grab a cab or…" Banner started to say, but Olivia just shook her head with a laugh as she took his hand and pulled him over to the car.

"Sit down and scoot over." Olivia said and Banner did so. Olivia was about to squeeze in next to him when Stark interrupted.

"What about the seat belt?" Stark asked in an annoying sing song voice. Olivia rolled her eyes and sat down in Bruce's lap earning a startled noise from him as she slid the seat belt around them.

"Happy?" Olivia asked Stark.

"Immensely." Stark replied as they took off down the street.

"Sorry, about this." Olvia said with an embarrassed smile.

"It's ok, I don't mind." Bruce replied with a small smile. Kayla watched as Olivia squeezed into the seat with Banner who was blushing like mad. Olivia had said she'd go on the walk with her, but she was pretty sure she'd rather be squashed up against Banner.

Kayla started walking down the sidewalk after one last good bye to everyone watching the people around her, amazed that after the world almost coming to an end people could pick up and move on so easily. The sound of a motorcycle caught her attention. She turned and saw Steve sitting on his bike.

"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to grab some coffee or something with me?" Steve asked.

"That sounds great." Kayla said as she walked over to his bike, hoped on, and wrapped her arms around his waist as they took off.


	10. Chapter 10

THERE IS A SEQUEL CALLED 'THE CLOCK TICKS ON' IT IS ON MY PROFILE. :D PLEASE ENJOY!


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